Elihu Dwight Church (24 April 1836 – 30 August 1908 in Westfield, Connecticut) was an American rare book collector and philanthropist.
[2] Church began collecting rare books in the late 1870s by purchasing works illustrated with Thomas Bewick's wood cuts and then acquired many examples of books illustrated by George Cruikshank.
The catalogue of Church's collection was compiled in five volumes by George Watson Cole.
Although Church's collection is chiefly noteworthy for its Americana, there are also rare editions of Shakespeare's works, including George Daniel's copy of the "Sonnets".
It contains, in addition to the "Autobiography," some letters of Christopher Columbus and George Washington; a first edition of Milton's "Comus" and "Paradise Lost," and a first edition of Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress.